It is a well-known fact that there is an actor inside every director. Throughout Kollywood’s history, we’ve seen many directors casting their assistants in cameo roles — even K. Bhagyaraj, Pandiarajan, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Shankar and many others have acted in a few films during their time as assistant directors.
The trend continues even now, and in the recent years we’ve seen many ADs performing crucial roles in several films. In fact, films like Visaaranai,
Jigarthanda, Appa, Iraivi and more, have had aspiring filmmakers carry intense roles with ease. DC gets in touch with a few of them to understand the reasons behind casting them and their interesting experiences in front of the camera.
“There is a saying, ‘When you get your casting right, 50 per cent of your work is done’. And why would a filmmaker go searching for talent, when a person, who is right in front of him, has characteristic traits or resemblances to the particular role which has been written?” starts Pradeesh Raj, who was an assistant director to Vetri Maaran, and also acted as one of the four suspects in Visaaranai.
Speaking about how he was roped in for the role of Kumar in the film, he says, “Sometimes, it comes down to suiting the particular lifestyle shown in the film — in Visaaranai’s case, my dusky look and a scar matched the script and I had already read Lock Up (the novel the film is based on). So I had an emotional connect with it.” He adds, “Sometimes, when an AD acts, it becomes easier for a filmmaker because we know the vibe of our director. And it also gives us an edge since we have read the script earlier.”
On the other hand, Karthik Subbaraj’s associate director, Senthil Kumaran, has been getting offers after his role of Soundar in Jigarthanda fetched him accolades. “I was helping Karthik anna in finding locations for Jigarthanda. And as the role of Soundar needed a local boy with cocky arrogance, I was asked to audition for it. My life in Madurai was similar to that of Soundar in Jigarthanda — in fact, I used to roam around the city with Ray-Ban glasses, just like in the film! After watching the movie, many liked my performance and therefore, I got a good role in Ponram sir’s Rajini Murugan and I also had a small role in Iraivi. Of late, I’m recognised more as an actor!” he elaborates.
Sharing with us a funny incident while shooting Jigarthanda, Senthil says, “I had a scene on the first day of the shoot — I had to smoke a cigarette and puff out the smoke in Siddarth anna’s face. I was really hesitant, but the director said that it was a montage and I didn’t have to speak any dialogue. But at that time, I didn’t know what a montage meant and was very confused. The director laughed, eased my nerves and helped me act in that scene.”
Meanwhile, Naveen George Thomas, who has assisted Vikram Kumar, says that the concept of casting ADs in films has been there since long due to several reasons. “This is not something new at all. Every assistant director knows the script and characters very well — in fact, sometimes we audition people for several roles in films. As there is an actor in every filmmaker, it is easy for us to carry out certain roles. Even Karunakaran was assisting Nalan Kumarasamy during Soodhu Kavvum. In my case, I appeared in few of Vikram sir’s films in cameos mainly because the junior artiste was not performing well! On the other hand, I had auditioned for the role in Malai Nerathu Mayakkam and I’m also acting in Enakku Vaitha Adimaigal.”
Dhileepan, who has assisted the likes of Vikraman, Samuthirakani and K Balachander, has also donned the greasepaint for handful of films. Recently, he played meaty roles in Appa and Poraali, which he claims have gotten him more offers to act. Dhileepan asserts, “Assistant directors come handy for playing small but crucial roles in film since the filmmaker don’t have to find a new person and make him understand the script.”
He continues, “There’s no much difference between acting and directing a movie. Though I started off as an assistant director, I am looking forward to do more films as an actor.”
(With inputs from Kirubhakar Purushothaman)
